I am sorry about the weather preempting the Solstice party. It was a bummer missing the opportunity to spend time with you. Maybe we’ll wait for the Spring Equinox or maybe we’ll do something for Candlemas, a.k.a. Groundhog Day. I made Robby a batch of oatmeal peanut butter cookies for his birthday. What a great recipe! I left out the wheat germ because I didn’t have any and just added a little more flour and oatmeal and he and Freya love them. Stew and I thought they were pretty tasty, too.

Dec 21st is the Winter Solstice. On this day, the Sun enters the part of the space-time continuum belonging to Capricorn. This is the official first day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The word Solstice is derived from the Latin sol, or “Sun,” and stitium, or “stoppage.” At the Solstice, the Sun appears to both rise and set at the same spot on the horizon.

On June 21, the Summer Solstice, the North Pole is tilted most directly Sunward. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere experience this as the longest day and shortest night of the year. On December 21, the Winter Solstice, the North Pole is pointed away from the Sun giving us in the Northern Hemisphere, our shortest day and longest night. It is this tilting of the Earth’s rotational axis that gives us our seasons. If you want more information on how this works, just ask and I can recommend some articles and books that explain it really well. I don’t know about you, but to me, the important part of this is that from here on out, we get a few minutes more of daylight each day, until the Summer Solstice, that is. Here is evidence that humankind’s fascination with the Sun hasn’t waned in thousands of years. Study-buddy-Jacqui sent me this website featuring a series of photos called “Holding the Sun”

The 25th is Christmas. Do you believe in Santa? Did you? I did until I was 10 because we had one. The guy across the street used to come over on Christmas Eve and hand out presents. He had a Santa suit and Grandpa left the bag of presents on the front porch for him. He did a great job because I never had a doubt he was the real Santa.